Brighter the Light, Darker the Shadow
by Sleepislife75
Summary: Kuroko left. He actually left. He couldn't take it anymore, being ridiculed, watching Kagami fly forward and he stay behind in the basics. He left. Waited a year to come back. Now older, better and fitter Kuroko proves to his old team he doesn't need some petty light. He can be his own light, he can create his own darkness, he just need some person's help. Ebisu Tachibana
1. Chapter 1

"Ebisu Tachibana..." Riki growled, her anger boiling inside her, popping the veins against her forehead and temples, she crushed her fingers together tightly into a fist.

"R-Riko-!" Kagami went to try and calm her down but received a full on punch to the face.

"Hahaha!" The college students burst out laughing like hyenas as they watched the, now first years of college, from their old team, came to join their college basketball team.

The whole team had gone to the same basketball related college, so it was easy for them to relieve a place on the team as regulars, ever since they won the winter finals.

"Listen up!" One of the older second years called out, pulling Kagami off of the ground, he rubbed his nose and glared at the now snickering Riko, she has ripped up the poster of the Ebisu Tachibana, the leading manager /coach at the moment, and stormed off and cuddled into the arms off Junpei.

"We got our regulars fixed, now get to practising!" He ordered and all the team jumped off and began to toss the ball between themselves.

"It's kind of strange." Teppei commented from the bench, now the manager of the team, as he watched his team sweat around the court.

"What is?" Shun asked, dribbling the ball around Junpei who "tch" in annoyance.

"Not having _him_ here." A loud squeak of stopping trainers echoed throughout the gym and a ball went soaring past Teppei's hair, crashing I got en bleachers behind him.

Everyone froze at the anger pouring out Kagami, burning around him like a uncontrollable fire. Teppei gulped, realising his mistake.

" _Shut up_." Kagami growled menacingly. Glaring hard and cut at him.

"Kagami, come on, it's been a year." Riko groaned, pulling her now longer hair up into a pony tail.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" He growled again, shoving past her violently. Riko frowned, pain flashing across her face like a knife to her heart.

"I didn't mean to!" She called after him as he wiped the baby blue towel across his face.

"Nah... You didn't, none of you did. But you did it anyway. And now look. It's been a year and he still ain't back. "

Kagami aggresivly picked up his back and began to walk away from his team.

"Kagami!" Junpei called "Tetsu made his decision! And if it's to not play basketball anymore then we should respect it!"

"You knew how good he was!" Kagami burst out in rage.

"You knew he could beat ALL of us if he wanted too, but you didn't like that, did you?!" He sent a hard glare to all of his team mates " none of you did! So you made sure he didn't find out about his ability! You shoved him down into the dark!"

"He's a shadow, Kagami! You're his light, we needed to be darker!" Junpei reasoned.

"Oh yeah, and where is he now? Now that you need him?" Kagami snarled icily before storming out.

A few ripped pieces of paper with Ebisu Tachibana's and Tetsuya Kuroko's faces blowing in the wind behind him.

"Shadow and his light!"

It read.


	2. Chapter 2

"Testu~~" she whined, snuggling closer into his arm, rubbing her large chest against it, making sure he noticed it.

"Tachi-Chan, please refrain from this, we are at a professional game. " the bluenette yawned, removing his arm from the beautiful black haired girl.

"But Testu~ aren't you nervous?"'she giggled, skipping along dancingly behind him, the blue eye watched as the rest of his team joked and laughed, making fun of one of the new first years at his nerves.

"Yeah, I am. Always am, always will be." A small smile graced his lips and his stroked Number 2's chin quickly.

"Oh my gosh!" Ebisu cried out, a loud blush dusting her face, the rest of the team turned quickly to face her, shock and curiosity flashing in their eyes.

"What?" The captain asked, slurping on his coca cola.

"Testu smiled!" She gaped, Kuroko looked away awkwardly, a tiny blush littering his cheeks. The captain burst out laughing and ruffled Tetsu's hair, jidding him about his shyness. Soon the whole team were laughing and joking as they entered the practice hall.

It was large, like always, and the stank of sweat filled Kuroko's nose and he almost choked, the buzzing noise was defeaning, crowds were already chanting names and teams, and the loud squeal of shoes against floor bounced off the walls echoing into his ears.

"Never get used to it, do you?" Ebisu had to shout over the noise to get Kuroko's attention and he nodded in reply, feeling a swell of nervousness bubble inside him.,

"hey!" Ebisu quickly entwined her fingers with Kuroko's large ones and he gazed down at her lovingly. "Are you gonna be okay?" She asked, knowing the prilimeries were always the toughest part of the competition.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Kuroko quickly asked, checking on his teammates as they set up on a bench near the side of the hall, beckoning him and his girlfriend over as they were still near the entrance.

"because you're playing _them_ if they win their first game right?" Kuroko suddenly, stiffened, slipping his hand away from Ebisu's.

"Of course..." He mumbled, a sudden wave of anger passing by him. " _I'll crush them_."

* * *

"Kagami, Shun, Junpei." The captain addressed them, all three nodded, knowing he wanted them in the starting line up for the team.

"You guys ready?" He asked, brushing his sandy blonde hair out his eyes.

"Yeah totally!" Kagami smiled, scaring some of the children in the stand. As the three rose up to take on their first match, Kagami glanced over to the second court, to see how those teams game were going. And as he watched, a ball quickly curbed through the air, landing fast into a second players hands. Kagami gasped, realising that wasn't possible.

He called out to Shun and Junpei. They too, confused at how all these strange passes were happening, landing in the players hands like darts to a board.

Suddenly, Junpei noticed something,

"hey, aren't that team down one player?" He asked the other two boys, they stood shocked and confused, eyes flicking and counting the players. Shun nodded in agreement.

"Could one of them be using misdirection?" He guessed, just as Kagami locked eyes with baby blue, as the bluenette glared bitterly at him.

Kagami locked eyes with Kuroko, and just after a second, Kuroko was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kuroko..." Kagami breathed, his voice choked and taught inside his throat. He gasped quickly for air, gripping onto Shun's shoulder.

"What?!" Shun yelled, hearing Kagami echo his name again sent chills down him, he glanced at Junpei, seeing his own shock and confusion mirrored in his friends eyes.

"K-Kuroko!" Kagami yelled, this time finding the strength in his voice.

"Kagami... Are you serious?" Riko whispered, coming over to them to push them on to the court, their team still waiting.

"Kuroko is on that team..." He mumbled to his team mates. Riko glanced over, her brown eyes locking onto marvellous green. She gasped, watching as Ebisu Tachibana looked her up and down. Her patronising gaze skimming over Riko in disgust. A smirk played her lips when she looked over at Kagami, her eyes lighting up in a devilish shine. She brought her hands to her mouth in a sarcastic gasp, before smirking wider, pointing for Riko to watch the scoreboard.

"Oh my god..." She whispered in utter dumbfoundment, the red flashing lights reflected in her glazed over eyes.

78-0

The whistle blow, ending the game and Riko, Kagami, Shun and Junpei all stood shell shocked as they watched the players part to their siding teams.

They watched as the bluenette grasped the young black haired girls arms, spinning her around slightly, her slim back to his old team, his own pearl blue glaring daggers at them violently. Kagami went to speak, to call out to his old friend but Kuroko just glared harder.

"They're a couple..." Riko informed them, "it was in the article... About how she had trained him and now, no one can score a single point against them in their matches..."

Shun gulped as he watched Kuroko wipe the sweat off of his body, his gaze still locked in his old team.

"They say, he disappears in the matches... That even his own team can't see him, even when he's right under your nose, not like when we were with him... This is different... Kuroko he..." Riko's voice trembles, her grip tightened on her plaid skirt, her fingers groaning and popping in protest.

A nervous sweat had over taken them all, the cold liquid trickling down the backs like a ghost.

"He's not a shadow anymore..." She swallowed loudly, stepping back slightly when the opposing team began to make their way over across the courts to the changing room, "they say... They say..." Riko struggled for words as the first members of the team shoved past them, laughing and joking about how pathetic the other team was. Kagami's mouth fell open and closed shut like a dying fish as he stared at his old friend, the now taller bluenette arm wrapped around Ebisu's shoulder, his hair dripping with sweat and red towel draped around his shoulders.

"They say he's a wizard." And just as the pair walked past them, their eyes trained on the blue haired boy. He vanished, just like that, Ebisu stumbling slightly and rolling her eyes at his antics. All of their eyes widened like saucers.

"Kagami-Kun." A rotten voice snarled and the four spun around to see Kuroko standing right under Kagami's nose.

"How lovely it is to see you again."


End file.
